Wilson died in 1992. She lived in Brownwood where she was a teacher and an assistant principal at the high school and coached football, reportedly at the high school and Daniel Baker College. The real Tylene Wilson took on the assignment as the head football coach at Daniel Baker College in the fall of 1944, when the men were gone to war. The institution was plagued with financial difficulties and was consolidated with nearby Howard Payne College (now Howard Payne University) in 1952.

In the book, the character Tylene Wilson becomes the head football coach of the Brownwood High School Lions, one of the most fabled programs in Texas high school football.

Using excerpts from her research and interviews, Lewis crafts a clever and somewhat predictable story of a woman being assigned to coach the high school football team. There are familiar scenes, including the required school board meeting to make the decision to cancel the football season (as many Texas high schools did during World War II) or to name a woman to coach their young men. From the barbershop to the local machine shop, a chorus of opposition arose, but “Miss Tylene” battled on and was named the head football coach.

“Miss Tylene” gained her knowledge of football from her father with whom she attended her first football game in 1916. True story. Throughout her life, she would study the ins-and-outs of football and attend football games in Brownwood diligently.

Lewis, who is from New Mexico, became acquainted with Texas high school football as a sportswriter for the “Fort Worth Star-Telegram” and the “Dallas Morning News” in the 1980s.

Her writing shows that she learned well.

“Every road in Texas leads to a football field,” she writes. “You sit in the stands at dusk, stare at the field, and you can see the footprint of every football player who ever suited up, some so quick they left defenders in their stocking feet. Little kids grow up watching their favorite high school football team and go to bed at night dreaming of their turn to play.”

Try it. Go to Buc Stadium or your hometown football field and sit there a while. Listen to the southerly breeze from the Gulf of Mexico whip through the stands and stare at the 50-yard-line. You’ll hear the cadence of the quarterback, the blare of the trombones, the cheering of the pep squad and the joy of what has become a Texas tradition. You will get that feeling that is a unique Texas experience. Memories will flow back. You’re in football country — Texas high school football.

The book is an emotional roller coaster, mixing the events of WWII (mainly the death of young men) with the nuances of getting a bunch of teenagers ready to play football. How in the world can a woman wearing a flower-pattern dress and one-inch heels be on the sidelines coaching football? More importantly, why?

Therein lies the crux of this well-written novel spun with a woman’s touch that brings emotional page after emotional page to the front. “Miss Tylene” wanted to keep the football program going to prevent young men from going to war too early. In the book, she succeeded, but it wasn’t easy. The story is based on real-life experiences of the real Tylene Wilson and it also has significant similarities between her and the author, which Lewis reveals in her acknowledgement at the end of the book.

“Miss Tylene” may be fictionalized in the novel, but she will forever be enshrined in the lore of Texas football legends and as a woman who dared take on a journey where only men had ventured before. Tylene Wilson took the challenge and started calling the signals.

About the author

Marjorie Herrera Lewis is a sportswriter/journalist. She knew early on she wanted a career related to sports. After several years working at small newspapers, at age 27 she began working for the Fort Worth Star Telegram. She was named a beat writer for the Dallas Cowboys and eventually joined the Dallas Morning News sportswrtiting staff. A highlight of her career came when she covered the Super Bowl and travelled with the Cowboys for a game in London.

Texana Reads

This weekly column focuses on new and old books about Texas or related to Texas. It includes fiction and nonfiction books, reports on political and sports books as well as cultural or historical works. The common thread among these books is their relationship to Texas, specifically South Texas.
For suggestions on topics or books, email manuelf78407@yahoo.com.